A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Shore Leave
by Col.Foley
Summary: SPOILERS FOR CITADEL: When Shepard discovers who is stealing her identity, things become a little too personal.
1. The Beginning

**Author's Note: **Well I finished playing the Citadel and I loved it….but it has inspired me to do something. And well to take a break from Galaxy Fall since…well it inspired me to write a fan fiction about it. Since I believe that the clone was a bit familiar to how I play my Shepard and how a lot of different things computed. So I am writing this. Just a brief little fic before I get back to Galaxy Fall which I hope to get back to. But as always that does depend on what my fans think and what people reading it, the more people review, positive or negative, the more inclined I am going to be to finish the story…any story.

**Description**: Well since I did not want to spoil anything in the other description. I will here.

Commander Abigail Shepard runs into a clone of her while fighting through the Citadel and tracking down the person who is stealing her identity, and discovers that it is indeed the clone who has a megalomaniac plot to take her identity. This leads to a bitter chase and a final confrontation as Abigail must walk the moral line between good and evil, Paragon and Renegade, in order to defeat her clone, and give herself peace at being faced with someone who is so like her, and yet isn't.

She then has to deal with the consequences of her actions and come to grips with herself.

Features alternative dialog, action, and some retrospection from Abigail Shepard sprinkled throughout.

Agent Christian Sterling…as she was going by these days…looked over the sleeping form of her prize. The thing she dragged from the Illusive Man's grip when she had high tailed it out of his employ just two weeks prior.

And now it was the big day.

Not to toot her own horn too much but she considered what she had done to be rather impressive. She had first fled from the Illusive Man's grips, and then went to find a hiding place to make sure she was not going to be followed by any Cerberus goons. After that she had tentatively gone to find any material or supplies she needed to complete the resurrection, including the vital neural implants to make her brain function in a sentient manner. Though she did have a template to follow with the original Lazarus project…it was touch and go.

And now, just after a week, the big moment was finally here.

The agent tentatively hit the switch and the electrical device whirred next to her. Then folded her hands and waited for the show to begin.

The red head, the woman on the operating table below her began to stir. Christian thought she could have heard the slightest moan escape her lips. Her blue eyes slowly opened and she winced as if under a light, but Christian made sure to keep things dark.

The woman continued to gather her senses about her, continued to get used to the new thoughts rolling through her head. Continued to get used to the idea of _having_ thoughts, memories flooding in.

Christian opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it again.

_What do I say to her? What can I say to her? Especially after all she has been through...and me…representing the organization that did this to her_.

The stream of thoughts rattling around in the agent's head were ripped from her when the woman below her emitted a primal yell of fury and pain, rolling to the side of her bed and clutching her stomach, not from pain but the memory of pain.

Instinctually Sterling ran to her bed side and moved to check on her.

"Hold on, it's all right, there there." Christian said to the woman.

"My head!" She cried out, "All this pain…the memories…I was…created?...to provide parts?...in some sick experiment?...and YOU!"

Before the former Cerberus agent could react the woman leapt from the bed and wrapped her fingers around Christian's throat. She was lifted off the ground, if only by an inch or two.

_Well that must be all those Lazarus implants I had to borrow_, Christian's mind raced as it was already starting to her from the lack of oxygen.

"Please, I just want to help you!" Christian spluttered.

"And why should I believe you?" The voice snapped the voice she had heard on audio recordings but never had the pleasure of hearing in person.

"Because!" She coughed as the woman's fingers tightened on her neck, "I saved you, and you are here because of me! Awake!"

"But you belong to _them_ you were there…you are a part of…Cerberus!"

"I left them, because of how they treated you!" She squealed, "Because I need you!"

The woman continued to squeeze for a few seconds before letting go, "You have your say…you need me?"

Christian grabbed at her neck, panting for a few minutes before answering the probing questions.

"Yes!" She spluttered as the woman took half a step towards her, "Cerberus…Shepard! They have abandoned the ideals they started out with. They have become enemies to the very things they swore to protect! To humanity! And only you can set things right!"

"Shepard!" The woman's eyes effectively _bulged_. "Where is she?"

"In jail," Sterling finally announced calming down, "she is in jail for conduct unbecoming, on Council War Crimes, the Alliance turned her in before the Council could get to her…they are protecting their idol."

"But Shepard…I want _her_." The woman said.

"In due time you have to…"

"Have to what?!" The Woman screamed.

"You have to learn how to be human, to become who you are, who humanity needs you to become. We need to train you too, in all the tactics and abilities, make sure everything is working." Christian continued to think, "And we need a plan we just can't take on Commander Shepard without one. I will work on the details."

The woman nodded then eyed Christian, "And what's your interest in all of this?"

"Shepard has become too important. She has become more important than the mission, the humanity. She has forgotten her duty, to humanity, to human lives. Once, she was fine, she massacred Batarians on Torfan, in revenge for their attack on Elysium. She became a symbol of what humanity could accomplish…and then she became a Spectre and ever since has been going out of her way to appease the Aliens. Even turning down endorsements by Terra Firma! Then she abandoned Earth, going instead to save the Alien home worlds of Palaven and Tuchanka and Rannoch. Saving alien lives, instead of saving human lives in the colonies, or fighting on Earth."

The woman…_what do I call her? _Christian wondered…stroked her chin in thought. "And just why is that important? I have my own reasons for rejecting Shepard, your Cerberus created me specifically to service her. But that doesn't mean I have to trust you either, humans, aliens, it's all the same to me."

"All the same to you?" Christian snorted sarcastically. "They are your species, they are you!"

"Yeah, but you are my species, and you used me, Cerberus is my species, and they used me to. Shepard is human and yet I was used as spare parts to keep her alive. Why should I trust any of you?"

"Because there are people out there who want to kill you for being human! Or treat you like a slave! And whatever Cerberus has done to you, which was wrong, it does not mean that there aren't worse people out there. The Asari and the Salarians, think they are so mighty, believing they can manipulate us, throwing us a bone now and then to keep us quiet! And the Turians! They fired on us and attempted to commit genocide for trying to activate a _Mass Relay_. Never mind the Batarians who has been after us from day one, thinking it is we who have wronged them. Killing humans, enslaving humans, and being despicable."

"Well…that does sound bad."

Christian spurted for a bit, "That sounds bad? Is that all you can really say? Humanity needs you to be the person you can be! To be the person that Shepard isn't because she failed. Getting too wrapped up in her own legend! Causing people to fall into the legend and abandon their duty, corrupting Cerberus itself! Humanity's sword and shield!"

"Look," The Woman snapped lightly, "you are right. But my main goal is to stop Shepard and have my revenge, to find my place instead of being a shadow. And to protect humanity I guess, but as long as I get at Shepard then I will join you."

"Welcome aboard." Christian held out her hand.

And Abigail Shepard took it and shook it.


	2. The Reveal

_Shepard's Apartment_

"We'll find our own way in, gear up and lets," Abigail Shepard came up short as she turned around to face the squat form of a Volus in front of her…carrying a Pizza.

She glanced down at the diminutive Alien who glanced up at her; if he didn't have an enviro suit on Abby could just imagined him blinking up at her.

She turned back to the team. "What's with the Volus?"

"Oh right…sorry, I ordered Pizza…had the munchies." Vega put forward.

_You had the munchies? What are you twelve?!_ Abigail thought but couldn't help but smirk at the cuteness of it.

"Double Peperoni." The Volus supplanted.

"These archives are huge, you're going to have a lot of ground to cover, shame you can't bring everyone." Brooks pointed out.

Abigail's head snapped back, she smiled and turned back to the group once again, "Who says we can't? All hands on deck for this this one."

"Hell yeah but who gets to take point with you?" James Vega asked.

"Ahem." Wrex grunted.

"Ahem." Javik put his name in as a candidate.

"Ahem." Tali squeaked.

"Ahem…who is going to pay the bill?" The Volus asked behind her.

…

Commander Abigail Shepard inserted with her team, her entire team down the ladders and into the base of the Citadel Archives. Wrex and James tagging in her wake.

They entered in a group, Garrus's team Mako going left, and Ashley's team Hammerhead going right. Just as they were about to enter…

Three lasers locked in on Garrus's chest, and three slammed onto Abigail's brest plate.

"Not again!" She cursed.

She looked up and saw a Cat 6 soldier ahead of her cradling the Mattock in her general direction. She brought the Valkyrie around and equipped her warp ammo.

"Scatter and Cover!"

She dove behind cover as smoke grenades went off in front of her obscuring her view.

Going into Adrenaline Rush she waited, and sure enough the soldier charged through the cover, she aimed and put three bursts into him, two to take out the head, one to slam through his head putting him in the ground.

"Everyone still with us?" She asked.

"Team Mako reporting in, we're fine." Garrus said over the com.

"Yeah, team Hammerhead checking in too." Ashley reported.

_Good…but wait_, Abigail had to line up another shot on another Cat 6 specialist as the smoke was beginning to clear. His shields were already down from some way so she just put two busts into his torso slamming him back against the table.

"Brooks you still with us?"

"I'm OK! Scattering and covering!"

Abigail winced as the woman's voice drilled through the back of her head like one of her Widow bullets, _God…she is annoying…I just wonder if_… But she had no time to formulate the thought as one of her opponents through a grenade at her.

The Spectre rolled out of her cover to a table, popped up, fired again, and a third Cat 6 fell to her Valkyrie Scythe.

The smoke had cleared fully and Shepard poked her head up to take stock of the situation. And it looked good for her team. The Cat 6 people were getting slaughtered.

_Finally we have the advantage for a change_, she smiled.

The hail of bullets ripped into the hapless squads of mercenaries, their shields failed and they had to take cover. But biotic and tech powers crushed and crackled the ground around them forcing them to flee only to be picked off by precise waves of weapons fire.

_Now this, this is kinda relaxing_, Abigail thought grinning, but a pang of guilt also was mixing around in her gut that she was semi enjoying a semi easy fight against fellow beings. She didn't even have the 'these are all husks' excuse. But it felt good to have the tactical advantage for a change.

"That's enough!" A voice yelled out above her.

Abigail looked up and saw a figure bathed in shadow holding the obvious form of Maya Brooks at gun point around the chest.

_Maya!_ She hissed.

"Stand down, all of you!" The figure said.

"You bitch!" Maya said.

_Wait, that voice, I know that voice!_ But she couldn't quite place it.

But the female figure had Maya hostage, and the Cat 6 soldiers had used the distraction to surround the ground and the over watch teams.

_No Choice, at least until I can come up with a plan_. Abigail decided.

She exchanged looks with James and Wrex and advanced slowly, her Black Widow held out at a non-threatening angle. She marched to the rough center of the entry point and placed her weapon on the ground, her squad moving to join her.

The figure threw Maya, the intelligence specialist cried out from pain, though she recovered and moved to join the rest of the squad.

Abigail glared up at the figure with gathering fury, "I don't know who you are, or who you _think_ you are, there is nowhere you can hide that we won't find you!"

"Hide? Why?" The figure claimed finally coming into the light, "I'm I Commander Shepard, I never hide."

_Wait…what? Its…is that a mirror…a body suit?_

"Uh huh, so that's how it's gonna be." Wrex said lowering his hands.

_That too!_ Abigail exclaimed.

The…_other Abby_…leapt down on the ground floor and moved to join them.

"Who are you?" Abigail asked her duplicate as she approached.

"You aren't the only Shepard that Cerberus brought back to life," The other Abby explained, "but at least one of us will finally do something with it."

"Where did you come from?" She challenged, figuring she knew where this was going.

"The same place you came from, your DNA."

"A Clone." Wrex growled.

_Well that certainly explains things_, Abigail arched her eyebrow.

"Cerberus spared no expense bringing you back to life, they used me for spare parts…whenever you needed a heart, or a leg, or an arm."

Abigail winced.

"Where have you been this whole time?"

"In a coma until six months ago, while you were in jail on Earth. I spent the last several months learning to be human. It is amazing what you can do with neural implants." Her clone explained with a perfectly self-satisfactory smirk.

"If you're really me, then we are on the same team. Imagine all the good we can do, together, for the Galaxy…for humanity…against Cerberus and the Reapers."

"We're not even in the same league!" Her clone sneered.

Abigail felt her eyes narrow.

"Did the Illusive Man send you?" She hissed.

"No, he abandoned me when he had what he needed…you." She said by way of explanation.

"Then why are you trying to kill us?" Vega finally butt in.

"Because I don't have her memories, I would never fool my so called friends the ones who abandoned their duty to join the Cult of Shepard…like you Jimmy…your nothing but a farm boy with a pitchfork."

The real Commander Shepard had to restrain an amused snort, _other than the fact that he doesn't exactly match the whole farm boy stereotype…_

"You're nothing but a pale imitation of the real thing!" Vega yelled out.

"I'm the real thing perfected," The Clone gloated, "Without all the wear and tear…the doubts…the failures. I'm the lone wolf you were always meant to be." she glanced at the team who was trapped on one of the cat walks… "Without the emotional baggage."

Abigail's heart began to pound with each word. The trueness and _evil_ of it somehow warring with one another.

"No one will _ever_ believe you're Shepard." Wrex challenged

"They will when I am flying her ship." The clone shrugged.

Abigail leapt into action toggling her Omni-tool, "Traynor, this is Shepard, _Normandy _emergency lockdown, sending command codes now!"

And the other Abby waved her Omni-tool in front of her face, " Good idea, too bad the signal was blocked," the clone gloated, "this is Shepard, prep the _Normandy_ for emergency departure, Traynor we're leaving, sending command codes now."

To Abigail's horror Traynor answered, "Right away Commander."

The other Abby came over and continued with her gloating smile.

"I never thought I would say this about myself," Abigail started, "but I'm looking forward to killing you."

"It seems ominous threats of violence run in our DNA," the other Abby started turning to go. "But mine is more than just a threat…execute them!"

The clone began stocking off quickly, through the door ahead.

Abigail Shepard, the…_Prime? The original? The real one?_...glared around the bay as the rest of the Cat 6 forces began to close in on them, holding their weapons threateningly on the team.

_Well, there's always a way out_. Abigail looked down and saw a fallen pistol, a Predator.

She glanced upwards, and sure enough they were under the upscale mockup of the Citadel in glass hanging above them. She smirked, _Am I just lucky or is someone watching out for me?_

The Cat 6 soldiers continued to close in, _probably wondering how they are going to kill us execution style with our shields up_. _Their mistake_.

Waiting a split second more she sprang into action, grabbing at the pistol, the Cat 6 soldiers were too slow to react. Pointing it skyward she fired three bullets, which slammed into the glass, and broke it, causing it to spill down and shatter on the floor separating them from their opponents.

Abigail dove grabbing at her Black Widow as she went, bringing it to hand.

"Everyone still with us!" She yelled into her head set hoping to be heard over the renewed cacophony.

"We're alright!" Tali whined over the intercom.

"I'm OK too!" Brooks agreed.

"On the high ground with a Sniper Rifle? Couldn't be better!" Garrus finished.

_Well at least someone's having fun_. Abigail smirked as she too got back to work.

Smoke grenades were going off all over the place, and a charging Krogan rushing through the area adding even more confusion. Along with the flying bullets, the cacophony of explosions, and the crying out of help of their opponents, it made a sniper's work even harder.

But yet, she managed, as a single Cat 6 Sniper came through the smoke at her. She snapped into her scope, drew the sight picture, and fired, the bullets slamming through the weakened shields killing her.

Abigail switched her weapons bringing her Valkyrie to hand, rushing out of cover with a Krogan on her flank and her team providing every single advantage.

She fired on anything that crossed her path, and her shields dropped like a rock, she rolled to the side and took a few more hits, but applied medi-gel quickly to heal the gaping wounds.

The Soldier in front of her cursed as he had to swap out his thermal clip, but before he could manage he took a blast in the chest from a biotic warp.

Abigail looked around, "Team Mako, team hammerhead? Report!" She cursed.

"We're fine Shepard," Garrus reported.

"What's a Mako?" Brooks asked.

"Something we could really use right now." Liara grumbled.

"Team Hammerhead?" Abby asked, trying not to smirk _too_ bigly.

"Yeah, and the Mako has got nothing on the hammerhead." Cortez offered by way of his acknowledgement.

Abigail grinned at that particular thing, but had to maintain order, "Alright alright people, and settle down."

"Uh Shepard," Vega commented, "We really should get after the other you…what could she be after here?"

"I don't know," She shook her head her red locks waving on her back, "But you're right, we're not going to find out standing here. Mako, Hammerhead, move out!"

**Author's Notes:** Well a few things first.

First of all I forgot to mention the rather semi important thing known as a 'disclaimer' so I don't get sued…or something. Yeah these belong to EA/ Bioware…in fact this belongs to those two entities more than most of my stuff considering I actually lifted a cut scene and some dialog. Have no idea where this is going in the future in things like that but nevertheless I am sure you will get some combination of these two things, fear not, this will get more original later on.

Second, it occurs to me that 'Christian' might not exactly be a chick name…that might go more for 'Christine'. The only Christian I know is a guy. Now is this a big problem for anyone?

Third, well read, review and answer my questions. That is all for now, hope you enjoy, bad assery coming up.


	3. The Chase

_The Citadel Archives_

"Huh, big place." Wrex muttered as they entered the Archives.

_Certainly wouldn't be hard to lose something_, Abby agreed.

"So what do you suppose your, uh, clone is looking for in here?" Garrus wondered over the com.

"At this point, anything is possible." Shepard grumbled.

"Like running into a clone who wants to steal your identity then kill you to take over your life?" Liara mused.

"I don't want to talk about it." The target of the ribbing replied starting to walk down one of the pathways.

"Hard to find anything in this place." Wrex said mirroring an earlier thought in reply to his statement.

"Glyph," Abigail ordered, the drone popped up almost instantly, "find and track the target, give me updates on its progress and position."

"And what is the nature of the target?" The VI inquired.

"It looks like me." Abigail replied.

"Then I found the target." Glyph reported with a tone of surprise, _as if wondering how I could be that stupid_.

"No not me, the other me, now get going."

"At once Commander." Glyph said rocketing off into the distance.

Abigail ran after it for a few dozen meters trying to keep up with it, hoping that she could be there when Glyph found the other her.

"The other Shepard is still alive!" A Cat 6 Specialist yelled out before her, just as a platform slammed into position.

"Take her out; I am still busy down here."

"Right!" The Cat 6 officer said.

_Not on my watch_, Abigail rushed forward going into an Adrenaline Rush. She strafed left to right and fired a couple of bursts into the soldier. An overload and an explosion ripped through the second guard.

"Alright Shepard, step onto the platform and we'll lower you down from here." Tali suggested over the intercom.

She nodded and did as her Quarian Engineer suggested.

The platform clicked and whirred as the floor almost dropped out from under her. She thought she lost Wrex and James for a second, but looking around revealed them.

"Alright Commander, step into the tube and we'll send you across." Brooks reported.

And Abigail did that too, walking into the tube it turned on its blue force shield keeping them in there, then lurched to the right.

Once Abigail had finished stabilizing from the sudden change in direction she took in her surroundings. _What's that?_ She wondered as she looked at a familiar looking stock.

She picked it up tentatively by the stock and hefted the weapon.

Wrex whistled behind her, "Whoa, check it out, it says this weapon was used during the First Contact War."

"Yeah," James grunted, "back when Turians and Humans didn't get along so well."

Abigail twirled it in her hand and looked it over grinning fondly, looking it up and down and then ran a finger along the barrel. _It was dusty_.

"I remember this gun," she said with a slight purr, "one of the first guns they gave us in basic training, I killed a lot of Geth with this thing…on Eden Prime anyways." She pointed out remembering that soon she was using the Raptor and the Spectre Weapons. "Though you always remember your first gun." She muttered lovingly.

"Damn Lola," James grinned behind her, "It's like you have some creepy gun fetish."

She turned her back with the two weapons, one in each hand, "Everyone has to have a hobby Mister Vega." She pointed out huskily.

The Krogan and the Human Marine sniggered.

"But," She acknowledged putting it down back on its bench, "nothing is better than my Valkyrie…technology has come so far since then." She grunted, and then turned back to it, "though see if you and Cortez can find any of these in stock. I might want to 'play' later."

"I'll look into it," James nodded.

The car stopped, _time to get serious again_, she said aiming back down the Valkyrie.

She walked down another cat walk heading deeper into the facility.

Glyph popped up above them. "The target is searching for something two hundred meters ahead."

"So, pretty crazy, I mean running into your clone." Ashley commented over her head set.

"Handy though," Javik caught in, "if there is a task you don't want to do, let them handle it."

"Kinda like a personal butler?" Brooks asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"So, have them do it." Wrex asked.

Abigail Shepard gritted her teeth, "I doubt she'd want to do it ei-"

"There she is!" Someone yelled out to her left.

She looked that way just as the first bullets slammed into her shields knocking them down to about fifty percent.

Strafing right she brought up the Valkyrie and fired a stream of bullets at the soldiers who were trying to cover themselves against the walls. The weapons fire from the squad quickly dispatched them.

"Shit, Shepard is still alive!" One of the soldiers yelled over the com net.

"If I hear that one more time than it will be the last thing the person says!"

"But," The Soldier grunted.

"Sounds like a real hard ass!"

"Hey, I'm the hard ass Williams!" Abigail chuckled.

"Not like this you aren't!" Ashley retorted snorting.

"I'd quit if she were my Commander!" Brooks concurred with the sentiment.

Abigail smiled as the last of the soldiers were dispatched.

"Team Mako, moving ahead." Garrus reported.

"Team hammerhead right behind you." Ashley mobilized behind them.

"Don't get too far ahead." Abigail warned.

She looked left to clear her path, aiming down the Valkyrie sweeping it ahead of her trying to maintain the perfect lock on the path in front of her, hoping she wouldn't get too far behind the advancing squad.

Two more Cat 6 goons popped up in front of her path, she dove taking cover, one of them threw a grenade, she arched over the cover bringing her Valkyrie up as she went into Adrenaline Rush. The Bullets exploded out of her gun sweeping the enemy clear as Wrex's and James's Grenades went off, one of the specialists caught fire, so Abby fired a Concussive shot making him explode.

"Commander we are under fire!" Brooks yelled over the coms.

_Great_, Abigail thought.

"We've got Shepard's squad surrounded, take them out!" A Cat 6 voice announced boldly.

_Wonderful_, Abby said rushing forward, literally to the sound of the guns as they reverberated towards her and down the walls from the firefight.

Getting there the Spectre held her Valkyrie towards the floor straddling it so she wouldn't accidentally shoot at any of her squad, until she could determine the combat situation.

The Cat 6 forces were moving around the perimeter trying to take out her squad.

_I need speed more than anything else_, Abigail decided reluctantly holstering her Valkyrie, and clutching at the Eagle mounted at her side.

A Cat 6 Sniper took up over watch position over the squad, getting set up, identifying where best to put its own bullets, doing the same thing she was, but she wouldn't have it.

In a rush of inspiration and athleticism she surged forward bringing her weapon up in a perfect two handed clutch. She fired a burst, the weapon jerked in her hand wildly but she kept it on the sight picture. The Cat 6 Sniper took its hits and clutched at its wound in its shoulder, going into cloak, but hopefully no longer a threat.

Leaping down she rushed forward, her weapon aiming around taking out targets as her personal squad joined in on the fun.

"Go, I'll cover you!" She began to run back towards a ladder as her squad scrambled up it, she tried desperately to keep the Cat 6 forces at bay.

But they were relentless, surging forward at the perceived weakness, _and in truth we are pretty weak_.

She held her ground though, firing her Eagle, wishing it would transmute into a Valkyrie or other weapon she could use to sweep aside the enemy. But it was a losing battle, hopefully though it would give her squad enough time to retreat.

"Hey pendejos, give it a break will you!" James yelled as he rushed up.

_God, if I get taken out by a bunch of random mercs I am going to be pissed_.

Her armor took a hit, as her shields failed. The enemy began swarming around her going into a semi-circle around her, with the only side covered by the ladder itself.

Desperation pouring through her body she activated her Omni-tool, hoping that someone, anyone would hear her, "This is Shepard we need-"

But she was cut off, by the glorious sound of her own squad lining up and laying fire down into the mercs below them, and surrounding her.

Claymore's, Avengers, Harrier's, Pistols of various descriptions, and a Geth Sub Machine gun roared above her, sweeping the mercs aside.

She glanced up grateful as she scrambled up the ladder to join them.

"That is why I love hanging out with you guys, why shoot something once when you can shoot them 46 more times?"

"Nice save guys," She smiled at them gratefully, then frowned, "but we still have a job to do…come on…the other me…should be somewhere up ahead. Fan out."

And so they moved deeper into the archives, with Shepard leading the way. The light tan walls gave way to dark blues and blacks; they approached a circular room off of the main path. Three Turians were displayed in blue holograms hovering over a human strapped down into a chair.

"Turian-Human interrogation, First Contact War."

The holograms began to move, audio filtering in over the speakers, a Turian sounding voice.

"Sir this is one of the humans we captured during the siege of Shanxi." A Turian subordinate reported.

"You're the first of your species that I have met human." The leader gloated

"And you're the first bird I met." The Human prisoner retorted boldly.

"He was captured with this weapon," One of his aides reported.

"How primitive," The Turian sneared, "your kind expects to win a war with this?"

"A bullet's a bullet." The Human soldier said with the mantra of his profession.

"You have so much to learn," The Turian leader advanced on his prisoner, "and when we conquer your Earth I look forward to teaching you."

Abigail's hairs on the back of her neck rose dramatically.

"Remind me to have a conversation with Garrus," She muttered.

"Huh?" James asked.

"Nevermind." She muttered.

As the team of three went deeper into the archives they ran into more of the holograms. Everything from the first Spectre, joining their ranks, to the Krogan's negotiating for a place on the Citadel, to the Asari discovering the Citadel, to even a 'human religious artifact date unknown'. _I wonder what that's about_. All this history put into one area for anyone to see with an interest, but some of the archives were damaged, corrupt, history was lost…if only temporarily, and they ran into the scattered remains of a few of the scientists. Also Glyph was having fun going on about the Elcor mating totems.

As soon as they were done with the sets of these records, they were back into the breach, as Cat 6 solddiers began to chatter over their coms.

"Somebody stop these guys!"

"I'm starting to think we picked the wrong Shepard!"

"Attention low life mercenary wannabees," Vega gloated over the coms, "say please, and we'll accept your surrender."

"Say pretty please and maybe Wrex we'll take a break!" Tali added.

"Try it and we'll see!" Wrex joined in over the coms.

"The Prothean on the other hand makes no such promises." Javik effectively ruined their chance of ending their struggle, but managed to add to the fun of their butt kicking.

The next room they entered was positively _massive_, more than enough room for the entire squad…and one angry Atlas.

Abigail felt the normal spike of apprehension at seeing the large mech, it was massive and mechanical, and something that was supposed to give even the most skilled soldiers trouble at killing it. And even though she had killed dozens of the things she still couldn't help but shiver in dread.

But not her squad _and they were all there_.

She rushed forward bringing the Valkyrie up to acquire the target.

"Atlas deployed!" The Cat 6 forces announced as the mech dropped from the ceiling.

The Valkyrie burst to life as she fired two quick bursts into the mechs shields, the rest of the squad joined in. And the behemoth's defenses positively _melted_, she blinked once, and they were gone, blinked twice, and its armor was down by half. By the fourth blink the thing was destroyed, internal explosions ripping through it.

_And it hardly scuffed my pads_, she thought in awe and disappointment.

"I love watching those things explode." Wrex grunted impressed.

The Valkyrie led her squad through the door on the opposite side of the room, and through one of the doors at the end.

And almost as soon as they were through the door at the end Glyph came hovering above them.

"Commander, according to intercepted Cat 6 and your coms the enemy is deploying an elite group, Razor squad, to intercept us up ahead."

"My coms?" Abby asked.

"…the target's coms." The drone corrected.

"That's better Glyph," she smirked.

The Spectre broke out into a run to face the next challenge as her team followed her into the breach.

They got to, nearly as a group, a railed off section hanging over a pit. More Cat 6 soldiers were in their way, waiting for them. They broke and went into firing mode as Shepard's team approached them boldly.

Shepard dove behind some cover as her shields took a burst nearly draining them, but James was more lucky then her and was up and firing almost instantly. Wrex only had to apply a stimulant pack restoring his shields before the thuds of his Claymore joined the cacophony of the Harrier.

Her shields restored she was able to add her own Valkyrie to the fray firing down range at the targets at the other end of the bay, her visor allowing her to line up the perfect head shots, and then dropping the enemy in a rush.

"Razor squad deployed!" She heard over her com nets.

_This should be good,_

Going back into cover she slid to the other side of the box she leaned over as the former 'pit' revealed an elevator platform…and four Cat 6 'heavies' standing there, _armed with Revenant Machine Guns…probably where they got the term Razor from, hoping to suppress the enemy and blow them all to hell, working off of intimidation…hmmm. _

As the thought finished Abigail rushed forward, picking her Eagle from her side, rushing into the teeth of the storm. The Cat 6 heavies looked around the room, and even though they were helmeted their posture suggested that they 'owned this room, they owned you.'

_Well we'll see about that._

They didn't notice the fiery red head until it was too late, and then hesitated a split second before they wondered whether or not to deploy defenses or attack the target…they went for the defenses deploying Omni-shields similar to the Cerberus Guardian's metal counterpart.

Taking the Eagle in one side, armed with Incidnary ammo, and the Valkyrie, armed with Warp. She held her hands straight out like a rod as she moved past them, stopped, behind them, covering them, and fired. The Incendiary ammo caught the trooper's armor on fire but the man inside the suit ignored it trying to acquire her. But he couldn't ignore the Carnage blast that caused the flames tickling his suit to explode in a massive fireball of debris, the heavy collapsed under his own weight. The Warp ammo tore through the other target, that and the armor piercing mod she had, made the armor brittle without the shield to protect it, as he too died.

The next targets were already up and firing at her, she dove to the right dodging enough of the burst to prevent herself from dying, and instantly applied medi gel to plug up the holes in her armor, and herself, that had resulted.

But one of Wrex's lift grenades tore through the man in front of her, tearing his shield away and knocking him back. Shepard checked the man on the left and a fragmentation grenade made him stagger from behind. She fired on him, he caught fire, and then a Concussive Shot made him join his previous friend.

Wasting no time she reloaded and charged forward again, this time tossing the Valkyrie over to one side. She got behind the Heavies , renewed shield sliding under him, and fired at point blank range into his side. Again he caught on fire but was bringing the Revenant rapidly around.

_Uh oh_.

"James make it explode!" She wailed desperately.

And explode it did as the Cat 6 soldier took a carnage to the side, using his bulk and shield to protect her from the blast.

_Which only leaves the…_ She glanced around as she heard a vicious Krogan yell as Wrex knocked the last of the Specialists into a wall.

"Well, you clean up nicely Wrex."

"I always live to please my favorite human Commander." Wrex chuckled.

Moving to pick up her fallen Valkyrie she glanced at James as they moved forward, they traded a nod. She replaced the Eagle back on its hip holster and the lift automatically slammed into position.

They were on the next level and they were moving again, running down the corridor, until Glyph once again.

"Commander…the other you…has a message."

"Hey Shepard, save yourself the trouble, once I have what I'm looking for, you won't matter anymore."

_What's that supposed to mean_?

But they rushed forward, and into another hologram.

This one looked familiar, the same ravishing good looks, the same passionate red hair mirroring the goddess of war underneath the bosom, the same blue orbs peering out with intelligence…the same…_oh who am I kidding it's a holographic composite_.

She had a rifle cradled in her arms, and was looking out with a somewhat vacant look on her face.

"First Human Spectre, Spectre evaluations, circa 2183."

"Lieutenant Commander Shepard, Abigail Susan, is a soldier in the Alliance with an extensive military…career…excuse me?"

"Yes, this meeting is not to discuss Commander Shepard's recent achievements, those have been well documented, more to get a general background on the kind of woman she is."

The original voice sighed, and they heard him shuffle his notes. "Commander Shepard was born on the streets of the cities of Earth, where she participated in gangs for much of her life. That is until the age of 18 when she enlisted in the Alliance Military to escape that life and make a new one in space."

_An interesting…omission…hmm maybe Finch was right after all_.

She was snapped out of her reverie as the interviewer continued his report, "She is the Alliance's go to soldier on high risk missions. Their go to problem solver when normal niceties can't be observed and normal diplomacy has failed. Graduated from the N7 program with complete honors, and led the siege of Torfan. She is cold, ruthless, and calculating, getting the job done no matter the cost."

"A bloody business," A new voice, female, remarked.

"Please, we are not here to offer our opinions only listen to the reports offered by the Alliance's representative…please continue."

"Nothing much more to say, no mother, no father, no surviving family to speak of. Doesn't tend to get attached to her soldiers, a bit of a loose cannon when it comes to the chain of command but tends to get the job done…Captain Anderson highly recommends her."

"Ah yes, Captain Anderson…" One of the voices cut in.

"Thank you, this preliminary hearing is concluded."

Shepard thought the archive footage was concluded so she was about to move on, but the voices picked up.

"So Shepard…is it finally time to let the humans into the Spectre's?"

One of the voices sighed, "We will not know until we see her in action, for ourselves."

"She is an important military officer; assigned to one of the Alliance's most advanced warships…I believe Captain Anderson has assigned her to be his XO on the new _Normandy_."

"Indeed," the sighing voice agreed, "what if we place a Spectre onboard her in order to 'evaluate' her for a set period of time. The _Normandy_ given its status could run into all sorts of Pirates, Terrorists, and other threats to Galactic security. The evaluation can proceed at pace following normal operations."

"The humans could resent a Spectre being placed on the crew." The female voice pointed out.

"It was also built and funded by help of the Turian Government," one of the voices said decisively, "And was approved by the Council as an interesting experiment. They shouldn't mind if we send a representative to watch her _and_ our new investment."

"Alright," the Female voice said, "then who?"

"The only Spectre's currently not on assignment are Nihlus Kryik and Saren Arterius." The sighing voice pointed out.

"It's impossible to have Saren, he is off running down his own lead, a threat to Galactic security,"

The sighing voice…sighed, "Since when isn't he investigating a threat to Galactic Security?"

"Then its Nihlus." The first voice cut through without remorse.

"Agreed," the sighing voice finished.

And now the audio file was clearly over.

_Well, that explains where Saren went, and why they had to assign Nihlus_.

"Hey Lola…you…well…I haven't seen that armor, certainly not back in the day."

Abigail swiveled her head around to study the clone, she was wearing a camo armor set, and upon further evaluation…

"You're right James, that wasn't standard armor back when I was being evaluated…in fact…"

"She's stealing your life! But how? And is she just doing this to make a point?" James asked.

_She's made it_, Abigail shivered looking at the vacant profile picture with a renewed perspective.

"I don't know, but I do know we have to stop her." Shepard ordered, but continued to stare at the hologram for a minute.

"This is Mako, we're moving ahead, see you on the other-" Garrus's com was cut off.

Abby spun around and started walking down the corridor, "Team Mako, come in…Mako?" Nothing but static. _And now someone is jamming our coms_.

"Team Hammerhead, we see Mako and are moving ahead." Ashley responded.

"Stay on them."

Down the corridor they ran into a Sniper, it deployed smoke on their approach

They went through another door at the end of the corridor.

"Authorization required"

She rushed to the end of the corridor and pressed down on the green door icon to open it; the security field rushed won and across her buzzing as it went. Shepard moved back and looked up at it hoping that the clone hadn't trapped them in here. A burst of static filtered over the coms.

"Hammerhead? Mako?" She said into it. "Anyone? Great."

"Spectre authorization recognized, welcome Commander Shepard."

She rushed through the now open door into the chamber beyond and waved her Valkyrie around securing the area, now that she was cut off from the squad the confidence was replaced by sheer military discipline and willpower.

"Commander, I've been hit!" Brook's voice crackled over the coms.

_Brooks?_ Shepard asked herself.

"Commander please!"

_Hold on…wait what is Brooks doing there…with her weapon held straight out like that_.

But Abigail rushed forward regardless of the potential danger; _maybe my team is up there?_

As soon as she crossed into the platform in front of Brooks a rippling blue energy shield went up, she caught herself up short before piling into the thing in front of her…doing who knew what to her shields and armor. She glaned at the thing for a second.

"This isn't good." Wrex opined behind her.

Her hand went up to her coms, "Mako?... Hammerhead?... Brooks?... anyone on this frequency?"

"They're indisposed, trapped in Iridium vaults." Her clone appeared in front of her.

Abigail snapped her Valkyrie up and fired two quick bursts into the shield.

"Does that work, ever?" Her clone arched both her eyebrows nearly into her hairline.

"No, but it helps my nerves." The real Shepard nodded slowly.

"Hmm." The clone grunted.

"You know you aren't going to get away wth this," Abigail pointed out, "the Alliance will stop you, they've been informed of your existence."

"I don't know, Staff Analyst Brooks will the Alliance stop us?" Her clone asked behind her.

A very black hand ran itself along her clone's armor seductively, then nestled itself on her clone's shoulder. The hand belonged to Staff Analyst Brooks.

"I wouldn't know, I don't actually work for them."

_Oh that's just…typical!...It's always the innocent ones, oh Shepard Help me! Help me!_

"Who are you? And do you really think I won't hunt you down when I get out of here?" Shepard hissed.

"I wouldn't be so sure, if the Illusve Man can't find me I doubt you will."

"You're Cerberus?" Abigail asked, and then winced.

"_Ex-Cerberus_, Mr. Illusive and I didn't see eye to eye." Brooks explained. "He led a pro human group that looked to aliens for help. As for whom I am, that's really not important what my real name is, considering I change identities so often"

Abigail grunted in surprise, but had to stay on point. "What's with all the running around? Wouldn't it have been easier to just try and kill me off? You certainly got close enough in the sushi bar."

"Yes, unfortunately we needed your Spectre identification code, which you were more than eager to provide."

The image flashed in her mind of the door opening just outside the car park, _"Spectre Authorisation accepted." _The door's computer announced through her mind. Abby felt her mouth subconsciously hang open a bit.

"But you had to survive the hit so I had to improvise. And you brought that damn Asari in who was able to track down the source of the weapon."

"The gun dealer." Abigail dead panned.

She could just imagine in her head Brooks coming into Elijah's office, him being worried about the gun, her assuring him it was going to be OK…right before burying a bullet in his head at point blank range.

"But then your sex bot just had to decrypt the com signal."

The fury of the Spectre, the rage and indignation that had been building in her stomach for the last several minutes at the betrayal…and the fact she wasn't able to stop it…finally boiled over. "If I get out of here, no _when_ I get out of here I am going to cut your head off and mount it to the wall of the _Normandy_ CIC. And then I am going to mount her head next to yours, and _then_ I am going to flush both of your heads out the airlock!"

"That's a very dramatic," Brooks purred, "and if someone like say…Commander Shepard…were to make it I just might be worried."

Brooks began walking off to a console towards the side of the room.

Her clone shrugged her shoulders, "You had Miranda, I have her…just mine has more bite."

_I had Miranda? Since when? No Shepard Concentrate!_

"Do you remember this?" Her clone asked.

A hologram of the Council appeared in front of the Clone on the table.

"Commander Shepard, you are the first human Spectre, this is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

"Except somewhere along the way you forgot about your _entire _species you've saved more alien lives then human."

Abigail felt her bravado and shoulders deflate, _ouch that hits a bit close to home_.

"And who have you saved? All I have seen you do is end lives, including humans."

"You know it's funny," other Abby began looking at her hand rolling it around in front of her face, "our hand, it is shaped by life…not DNA…unique to each one of us." She began fiddling with the controls.

"Update of Spectre information authorized."

She placed her hand palm down on the computer's reader.

"Spectre information updated" The computer replied dutifully.

Abigail's eyes widened, _So that's how it's going to be_.

"If you'll excuse me the _Normandy_ needs its Captain." The Clone began stalking away out the door, but she turned around. "I should go." The clone mocked.

"Farewell Commander, I guess this is where 'legends' go to die." Brooks teased.

Abigail arched her eyebrows up, but had little time to make a proper retort as they were slammed to the side, in near pitch darkness, causing her to almost loose her balance.

"Didn't these things usually go our way back in the day?" Wrex grumbled.

"Do I seriously sound like that? 'I should go'?" Abigail asked.

"Ever since I've known you, pretty much, yeah." Wrex concurred.

"We probably only have an hour of air in here, three tops." Vega muttered.

"Now with me I'm more confident, more in control, more like "that's all for now," or perhaps "maybe we'll talk later"…leave them wanting more…then when they least expect…it's 'hi!'"

"Spoken like a true Krogan! Show them whose boss!" Wrex yelled happily.

"Seriously Shepard, why aren't you more worried about this?" Vega asked.

"Hmm? Oh yeah!" She activated her com, "Glyph you still out there?"

"Affirmative Commander." The drone replied.

"Get this thing open then go find the others!" The Valkyrie ordered. "Nobody steals my ship, not even me."

"At once Commander."

She heard a rustling behind her and turned to look at the new noise. James was more relaxed as the info drone began hacking the door to get them out of the room; he leaned against the bulkhead, crossing one leg over the other.

"So Commander…seriously… a clone?"

Her eyes narrowed, "you know that talking about it thing? Still not going to happen."

"Come on," Vega grinned, "this maybe your only chance to talk about it."

She sighed, and glanced at him, "What about you? What do you think about this?"

"Its…loco, Lola…" He shrugged, and then a wry smile spread across his face. "Though two of you in the same room? It's like some kind of fantasy of mine come true."

"Uh huh." _Yeah figures you'd say that…not that I haven't thought about it.._.

"So you got…pretty violent… even more than usual."

She glanced away. "Yeah, I know, we'll stop them, one way or another."

"What do you mean one way or another? All joking aside how can you even think of not killing her?"

Abigail frowned thinking, "She's my clone James…she's…me. But before…" she glanced around the vault, and gestured, "all this."

"So then what was with the threat, you went all out on someone if you don't intend to kill them."

She smirked, "Actually that was more directed at Brooks more than it was directed at my clone. Besides I was kinda hoping to threaten them, get them to open the cage and then surrender to us." Abby chuckled, "after all _I'm_ Commander Shepard, biggest badass on the Citadel, the one from whence all other badasses come."

James snorted briefly, trying to cover it up, "Yeah but she's a threat, you know how dangerous she is, her being you and all. There is only one way this ends." James grunted coming over to her.

"Perhaps…but I also know what she is going through. I know what it's like to feel like you have been abandoned, then used, it twists you up inside."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James grunted.

She sighed again, "we'll stop her, but as far as she is concerned I'm not going to commit to anything until I have her in my sights."

"Good enough for Saren, good enough for your Clone." Wrex grunted his agreement.

"Exactly."

Before James could press the issue any further the door popped open revealing bright light, and the whirring figure of the info drone, Glyph, to greet them. The three of them scrambled out of the vault and just had to wait for the rest of the squad.

**Author Notes:** Well this fic has been a bit painful to write. So you know what? Well first off all I decided to write it first and then add and tweak in any of the cut scenes later and stuff. And I decided, since the Citadel is a 'fun' DLC, I decided to have fun with it. And so I got some of the results in here.

Also I decided to add stuff from my Shepard, obviously, but not just in relation to the clone. Her mentioning Saren, and other things along those lines.

Hope you enjoyed but as always only way I know that if you tell me. So please review if you can.


	4. The Battle

_Top of the Archives_

Abigail Shepard joined the rest of the freed squad as they climbed out of the hole they made in the roof of the Archives complex and back onto the Citadel proper. She had to blink a couple of times getting used to the change in lighting as she moved over to the other side of the building. A sky car whooshed in over them and landed.

The cockpit popped open and Joker was sitting at the controls, "I've got room for Shepard plus 2, chose quickly, the other Shepard is stealing my ship!"

Abigail smirked at the helmsman's concern over _his_ ship; she could just imagine her, Adams, and Joker getting into an argument later on about exactly whose ship the _Normandy_ was. But, Joker asked her a question, and she bit her lip in response to it.

"Come on A team, you're with me." She began marching forward closing the distance to the shuttle.

After taking a few steps she stopped up short as she felt the mass of flesh stirring behind her. She turned around cocking an awkward eyebrow as Wrex, James, Garrus, and Ashley were _all_ following her.

"Uh…James and Garrus." She clarified.

Ashley smiled wanly at her taking the hint almost instantly.

Wrex frowned and knitted his 'brow line', "What? Since when? I was the A team."

"Yeah," Abigail shifted her feet uncomfortably, "back when you were helping me take down Saren…I mean you went to go become the leader of Tuchanka…of the Krogan…I moved on."

He growled lowly for a second, James, Garrus and Ashley grinned sheepishly. Abigail looked at the old Krogan warlord wearily.

But finally he shrugged his massive shoulders, "I wanted to go is all, I never get out enough."

"Same here," Tali concurred, "you never take me anywhere."

She climbed into the sky car with James and Garrus but turned to the rest of the squad, mainly the two who were whining, "Joker will be back for you, I promise." She tried to assure them.

And she didn't quite hear any response as Joker punched the accelerator forward on the Sky car's control. The vehicle swooshed into the sky, and then rushed off through the Citadel's interior heading for the _Normandy's_ new docking cradle.

"Damn it," Joker cursed leaning over his controls, "This is why I hate shore leave, you're not gone for five minutes and someone is already trying to steal my ship!"

"Have you tried raising Citadel flight control? Try and delay the departure?"

"I can't, coms are down…probably making it easier for them to steal my ship!"

"Why can't we go to Hackett and the Alliance, convince them you're the real Shepard?" Garrus asked.

"We can't remember," Vega cut in, "the other Shepard changed the biometric data, no one will believe it's her."

"Can we agree that it would be easier just to not let them steal the _Normandy_" Joker reminded them.

"We'll stop her, one way or another we're bringing this bitch down." Abigail assured staring out the front window.

"Now you're talking!" James yelled out from the back seat.

"James" Abigail warned.

He sighed behind her.

"Yeah, so go and kill the crap outta…you." Joker glanced over to her.

Abigail smiled wanly as the sky car zoomed to its final destination.

Suddenly the path before them parted, and Abigail felt her heart leap nearly into her throat. The view was _magnificent,_ heartwarming, but desperate. The _Normandy_ sat in its docking cradle next to a platform. The platform was filled with boxes and other work equipment; an emergency airlock was attached to the _Normandy's_ exterior hatch. _But we have to hurry, this may look magnificent but we have a person to stop_.

"Citadel control is targeting the car; they'll fire if we get any closer." Joker reported semi-needlessly.

Abigail nodded, "then let us out here."

Joker pressed on the controls as the sky car did a pivot in midair, sliding dramatically next to one of the tops of the platform. Shepard, James, and Garrus all leapt out.

"Do what you can Joker, get the rest of the crew down here if it's possible."

"Right," Joker grunted, "They can't have gotten very far, unless they picked up a cab or something."

Abigail inclined her head slightly frowning as the sky car hatch closed and it zoomed away. She turned her head around the visor automatically activating, the _Normandy_…her ship…sat there.

She flew down the ladder with her squad in tow, and as soon as they hit pay dirt the Cat 6 forces started to advance on them.

"Shit, its Shepard, I thought she was supposed to be dead!" The Specialist said.

Abigail smirked, but otherwise ignored the com chatter that was streaming over her head set. Instead she went to work trading out her Valkyrie for the Black Widow. One of the Heavies advanced along the path in front of her, between a box for cover, and a stairway leading to a pathway.

There was Specialists on both sides of the platform trying to take them out by flanking.

"Garrus." Abigail hissed.

Garrus immediately went right deploying his Indra and pinning the specialist down behind the cover with the spread of the weapon he was using, the bullets whizzing past the cowering specialist.

"James, on my go." Abigail ordered.

She aimed down her Widow's scope right through to the advancing Heavy which was advancing on her position. It fired a stream from its Revenant splattering around her as she tried to stay calm, but took a burst, instantly her shields failed and her armor began to be peppered.

The Valkyrie swung back into full cover and deployed more medi gel as it coursed through her veins, she hissed as the medicine slithered through her core giving her a slight buzz.

As soon as the sensation passed she arched back around the corner and drew a bead on the target, going into Adrenaline Rush she fired. The first bullet slammed through the shield and into the heavy, but did not kill him, the holographic shield taking most of the damage. The recoil was heavy and she had to absorb it, the Heavy was bringing the Revenant around again. The Spectre's next shot sailed through the open hole, slamming through its head and dropping him like the mass of armor and metal he was.

Her relief at her victory dissolved almost as soon as it formed as a Specialist threw a cluster grenade at her. It exploded above her and spread its contents over the floor around her.

Acting quickly, "James, go!"

The Harrier burst to life as she folded the Black Widow back on its port and traded it out for her signature weapon. She followed the burly Marine into the breach as he laid down a wave of fire at the Specialist. The Grenades exploded behind her as she dove, they nearly took down her shields but she was able to keep her balance and charge on.

James had to break off to reload so Abigail rushed beyond him, she brought the Valkyrie up, toggled the target in her sights, and squeezed the trigger sending a precise burst through the specialists head.

But she had no time for rest as their still was another specialist out there; she went into cover and snuck around the wall. Leaned out around cover to acquire her target, and fired. The repeated bursts of firepower finished what was left of the shields and then ripped his armor to shreds.

In the groove she advanced forward out of her cover with James covering her from behind she moved down the path heading for one of the over looks, where two more Cat 6 specialists rocketed in over the side.

James and Garrus concentrated on one of the targets, and she went on the other, firing several more bursts raging out of the Valkyrie in long gouts of flame. The man's shields dropped instantly but he was still alive, that changed when Abigail's concussive shot slammed into his chest and knocked him over the side.

The team regrouped and continued on, moving ever closer to their destination, nearly breaking out into a run.

A smoke grenade going off down range caught them up short, they dove into cover, and a cluster grenade forced them out again. Three shots from one of the Cat 6 Incisor's split the squad, but failed to hit them. Shepard dove back into cover, grabbed the Cat 6 specialist advancing up the catwalk, threw him down, and fired three bursts into his gut.

This left the Cat 6 Sniper, down range, cloaked, and concealed by the smoke grenade, but able to shoot at them just fine.

Shepard used her surroundings to her advantage moving up the boxes as the Cat 6 Sniper fired at her, only managing to hit her once or twice. Finally she got the position on it, tossed a grenade in, causing the Sniper to stagger, Garrus threw in an overload, and Abigail finished it off with a burst to the head.

The Valkyrie scanned the area in front of her checking to make sure nothing else was coming. Before she could finish the _Normandy's_ engines began to hum to life, she looked up.

"Sounds like they are getting ready to take off." Garrus pointed out.

"What the? It usually takes us half an hour to take off to preflight checks!"

"Maybe we can skip those next time!"

"If we make it I will totally spring for it, come on!"

The three squad mates rushed forward, taking out the last two Specialists that came to stop them in quick order. They rushed up the access hatch the techs had placed in the _Normandy's_ docking center. The hum was beginning to turn into a roar as they were nearly powered up.

Abigail reached for the door and slapped on a bypass, the gears were beginning to do their magic, as the door parted before them and they spilled on in. The engines still humming in the background.

And the three squad mates ran head long into…Samantha Traynor coming out of the cockpit door muttering to herself.

"Of all the…things…that could ever…wait…what?!"

She blinked at them as Abigail led the procession into the airlock.

"But, I just saw you, on the ship…you fired me. For conduct unbecoming an Alliance officer. You barely gave me enough time to pack my toothbrush!" Traynor said the last brandishing it at her Commander indignantly.

"That is a Cision Pro Mark V, it uses tiny mass effect fields to massage the gums and break up the plack." Abigail explained, thanking that she had asked, and remembered, her crew's problems.

"But if it wasn't you, then who…?"

"Yeah, Shepard has a clone it's…yeah that's all I got." James replied as Garrus worked on the door.

Abigail smiled as she continued in; the door's symbol looked as though it was trying to open. But it bleeped at her and then turned red.

"Damn it, the engines are online they're about to take off!" Garrus grumbled.

"Traynor, you know this ship better than anyone, inside and out, help us get in there." Abigail gestured at the communications specialist.

"Well there is an emergency access hatch," Traynor reported as she kneeled down, "used for emergency evacuations, it should be just about…here."

The Specialist popped up a hatch and yanked up on it as it revealed the hatchway she was talking about. Right outside the _Normandy's_ airlock.

"Damn it, it's sealed off and the only way to open it is from the other side!" Garrus pointed out.

Abigail turned around, "we need options here people, maybe we can bypass it or hack our way in?"

"Well," The Turian agent mused, "the door controls might be susceptible to a tiny mass effect field. Just we don't have anything like that on…"

Abigail turned at the lack of attention as Traynor held her tooth brush out, looking at it, Garrus was staring at the picture and she couldn't help to join in. The Specialist glanced at it sheepishly, and then turned the switch from 'off' to 'on'. The toothbrush whirred rhythmically emitting the usual tell-tale blue light. The first human Spectre focused on it closely as it was _almost_ hypnotic.

…

"If someone had told me this morning that a toothbrush was going to end up saving the _Normandy_ I would've been very skeptical." Shepard grunted as she crawled along the ships under carriage, Valkyrie in one hand, dragging herself along in the other.

In the tight compound Garrus and James followed her, each doing similar with their own weapons as they tried to keep up in the dim lighting.

"All patrols, search the ship, find her, and buy me some time!" She heard her clone yell orders as the elevator door opened up ahead.

Abigail got into a crouching position as the pathway widened a bit in the over hand, holding her breath, waiting to see what happened. A Cat 6 soldier up above began pacing just above the steps separating the _Normandy_ CIC from its bridge.

"Remind me to reimburse Traynor for her toothbrush; I think we broke it getting in here." Abigail hissed behind her starting to tip toe to the other side.

"Will do Commander," James muttered behind her.

"Alright let's get some patrols going, let's find the other Shepard," the Cat 6 leader repeated the order.

"'Buy her time' What's that supposed to mean? We are allowed to kill her right?" One of the soldiers asked executively.

"No, it means she thinks we're expendable." The 'leader' replied in an 'as if' tone.

"Well, shit." The first operative replied.

Abigail hesitated as her hand reached for the controls to swing the stairs open leading to the _Normandy_ CIC. A devilish grin was playing across her face.

"James," She hissed, "let's see if we can't spook em a bit."

She felt James nod behind her his understanding of the plan, _this should be good_.

Her hand reached for the controls again, slowly; as she palmed it she nodded back to her compatriot, and then pressed down. The stairwell connecting the CIC to the bridge swung open dramatically above them revealing the sight of the CIC, and several guards in their way.

"What the?"

"Peek-a-boo mother-"

An explosion from James's Carnage blast, the ratta tat of his Harrier, and then the steady drone of Garrus's Phaeston drowned out the rest of the statement. James had popped up right out of the stairwell raining fire into the CIC and the Cat6 troopers beyond. Shepard stayed low and rolled ahead right into the lion's den.

The steady _boom-boom boom-boom_, of the Valkyrie joined in with the death swinging scythe. The three Cat 6 soldiers that were at the top of the stairs waiting for them fell dead. Shepard peaked out around the rest of the CIC, wasting no time.

It seemed as though there were only three of the Cat6 forces left in the room, and they weren't going to be as easy to surprise as the forces by the stairs. _In point of fact they are already turning to skewer me full of lead_. One Cat 6 heavy was coming out of the bay to the War Room, one sniper sneaking across the railing, and another one by the Galaxy Map swinging his weapon around.

The heavy opened fire first spraying the place with imprecise machine gun fire.

Abigail dove to the right as the Revenant sprayed the _Normandy_ with weapons fire. The bullets slammed into the consoles and pylons behind them, tearing chunks off the wall and causing one or two of the stations to spark.

But the cover she was next to held.

"I guess we know what these posts are for!" James yelled.

"Yeah, I bet this is what the designers had in mind!" She replied.

Sticking the Valkyrie up over the wall and fired, the bullets hit the specialist, who got a grenade off. Shepard rolled, and then rolled again to the right heading away from the cluster. James moved left and brought the Harrier up and continued to lay down fire onto the other side of the room, the Heavy was forced to respond.

The Spectre rolled to the right, keeping the _Normandy_ status board and the wall of the Galaxy Map between her and the heavy. The Sniper suddenly decloaked, but Garrus was on top of it with a overload blast stunning it.

Abigail popped up and fired on the Heavy, the several blasts to the side taking the being out, killing him.

The CIC grew deathly quiet. The squad maintained their positions for a split second more, covering to make sure no other surprises were coming out of any of the nooks and crannies, or nothing was coming up the elevator.

"Alright people, lets…" As she was walking, Abigail noticed a pile of garabge stashed in the corner, curious she went over to it.

Her mouth jolted up, "Guys, this is stuff from _my_ cabin…she is taking stuff from _my_ cabin. Oh now it's personal."

James snorted behind her.

The three of them entered the elevator and Shepard pressed the button for the cargo bay.

"Does anyone miss the talks we used to have on the Citadel? Talking about cross species histories…and our favorite snack bar on the Citadel. No? It was just me? A shame."

"I just hope no one messed with my weights, I know some asshole messed with my weights, and I had them set up just right too!" James cursed at his sorry state in life.

Abigail cocked her head pondering the difference in the two perspectives, but the elevator stopped, and they had to get off.

The Alliance Commander led with her Valkyrie; exiting cautiously with the other two Assault Rifles came up and scanned the area at all.

Hearing movement to her side she spun around and moved to acquire the target.

The 'target' was her clone, walking out of the armory section of the shuttle bay. Dressed in blue striped N7 armor, a Valkyrie running across the clone's chest as she glared over at Abby with a confidently smug smirk. Pretty much a spitting image of her own preferences, without the visor, but…_she has my gun_.

"Well…that's creepy." Abigail commented upon taking the sight in.

The clone charged and brought her Valkyrie up firing a few bursts off in the direction of Shepard, Abigail charged forward raining fire down on the clone as she took cover behind the weapon upgrade station.

"Quit shooting up my ship." Her clone teased from behind her cover.

"It's not your ship!" Abigail taunted back.

"It is, I have taken your name, your rank, your Spectre authority, hell I've even taken your fingerprints." Other Abby taunted.

Abigail moved out of cover and held her Valkyrie out sweeping the area clear.

"And you left me for dead, but I didn't. Do you really think fake fingerprints are going to be able to fool Hackett, or the Council?"

The clone, instead of answering like a _normal_ human being charged in leaping high with Omni-blade deploying.

Abigail grunted rising to meet the challenge, literally, as her switch blade snapped out and the two of them clashed. The blades sizzled as the two of them continued to push on the other, trying to achieve the ultimate position to slash the other ones throat open and end it once and for all. The Spectre grunted, her feet were beginning to give out under her, but suddenly the Omni-blades snapped and exploded, knocking the two of them back.

Scrambling up before the clone could launch a counter attack she nearly had her head taken off when Brook's Crusader went off nearly in her ear.

"Reinforcements to the shuttle bay get Hatchet squad in here!" Brooks yelled into her mike.

Abigail fled keeping her Valkyrie swinging in her arms and rushing off, diving behind the console as the battle began in earnest.

"Hey Lola, you ok?" James asked.

She nodded, "yeah just peachy, being hunted by an evil clone and a deranged racist assassin lady who used to work for Cerberus? What could be better?"

He chuckle at her, "well here she comes!"

Abigail got up and fired off a quick thermal clip into the shields. The Clone got off a grenade, Abby dove to the right away from the explosion which kicked her out of the cover of the communication and procurement panels.

"James, get the Reeger, if she comes in again I want you ready for her."

"Roger that Commander." James said transferring his weapon over.

Just in time as the clone charged in towards the original Shepard, she flinched away clutching her Valkyrie together aiming it, as a burst of electric fire intersected her draining her shields. The other Abby rolled to the left, away from the sweeping fire of the Reeger.

Abigail swung her Valkyrie around and fired several bursts into Brooks, she crumbled.

The clone reacted quickly reviving the fallen comrade, who cloaked, before rolling away again. Abigail took off in pursuit but a grenade intersected her path making her roll again to the side, and take an incinerate to the chest draining her shields. _Since when did I have incinerate?_

Regardless she had to stay on the move as the Cat 6 forces took pot shots at her; she had to deploy medi-gel.

The Clone charged in once again before the Medi-gel had a chance to really take its effect. The omni-blade swept out, and the original had to react leaping to defend herself from the slashing blade. They grappled with one another; the omn-blades sizzled and crackled as they continued the pressure on one another. Abigail tried swinging high and the clone caught her, she grunted, the clone grunted. Abby was able to gain a slight advantage though as the clone over compensated, she yelled furiously as she slashed in with the fiery hot blade. The Valkyrie fired twice, finishing the clone off, or so Abby thought as the other version of her applied Medi-gel going back to full armor and shields.

"Commander," EDI came over the intercom.

"EDI! Were you able to break through the jamming?!" Shepard asked quite needlessly.

"Yes, we have, though the technology is still interfering with my connection with the ship."

"Keep at it." Abby replied while taking out another one of the Cat 6 Specialists with her Valkyrie.

"I'm Commander Shepard!" Her clone suddenly yelled out from the other end.

"Oh please," Abigail muttered to herself, moving around to flank.

She took out the Black Widow and fired again, twice, both shots slamming into her targets shields draining them. Abigail rushed forward switching her weapon back for the Valkyrie and continued to fire a stream of bullets. The shields failed again and the armor continued to face its problems. Though the other Abby stayed alive with an application of medi gel.

"Uh Commander," Joker reported over the com nets.

"Go ahead!" Abby yelled into her open com link.

"Commander, the _Normandy_ is preparing to go into FTL, is there any chance you can get to the bridge any time soon?" Joker asked.

Abigail looked at the door leading to the elevator which led to the bridge, looking as a three round burst from an Incisor nearly took off her head causing her to dive behind some medi-gel crates.

"I'm a little busy here!" She yelled her response.

"Don't worry about it Commander, I guess it's time for plan B." Cortez came in the conversation.

"Plan B? There's a plan B?" Joker asked incredulously.

"Just hang with it," Abby fired a few more bursts off down the center of the ship towards her clone, but hit one of the Snipers.

"You are a tired, vain old woman Shepard, someone whose glory days are long passed, decayed by age!" The clone broke in.

"This old woman is kicking your ass!" Shepard retorted.

Again she had to dive out of her cover as a grenade went sailing by her head and exploded behind her. Another incinerate whipped rapidly out of the shadows and struck Abigail's shield's flush causing them to flutter and fail for a brief second.

The clone again charged in, and was about to slam into the prime Abby full bore but gout of flame from the Reeger intercepted her mid stride, forcing her to apply medi-gel, and then retreat back down the corridor. Abigail took a deep breath as the ship rocked suddenly.

"Commander, we're going to try and get in front of the _Normandy_, block its path."

"The B is for bait?" Joker asked.

"Just stay with it!" Abigail yelled into the com nets rolling again away from a cluster grenade.

She got next to the medi gel crate and dove a hand in adding more medi gel to her stock pile. And Shepard hesitated as she heard someone sneaking around the other side of the box, she froze, bringing her fist up and clenching it.

The clone came around the corner and gasped as Abigail leapt on her swinging her Omn-blade up and twisting it into the battle armor. It didn't penetrate but it sheathed off large strips of the armor. The clone grunted kneeing Shepard down below, and then head butted the spectre. Abigail was forced back covering her head but there was no blood.

The Clone applied more medi gel and began rushing the other way as fast as she could to catch her breath. Abigail took off in pursuit but was forced to peel off as a Revenant to her left and the clone's Valkyrie intercepted with her forcing her to take cover.

The ship rocked again dramatically.

"Shepard to bridge, what's going on! Why haven't we gotten out of the nebulae and jumped to FTL?" She heard her clone yell.

"There's a sky car, it just blocked our path!" The Cat6 pilot

"Shoot it down!"

Abigail bit her lip, even though the heavy to her left was now busy dealing with James and Garrus, she just had to listen to the developing reports, the _Normandy_ had a precise weapons system…_but Joker and Cortez are two of the best pilots in the Galaxy_.

"We can't hit it!"

"Useless!" Her clone cursed, "Alright launch the shuttle and blow it out of the sky."

Abigail hissed through her teeth, two Cat6 forces started heading for the shuttle. The Valkyrie came up and she fired several bursts, the Cat6 personnel ducked for cover, one came up firing on her, she ducked as it sparked off the box. Looking up again she fired, hitting the original specialist in the chest, but not before his compatriot was able to scramble into the cockpit, the shuttle's engines burst to life. Abigail reloaded the Valkyrie and fired it as the shuttle rushed out of the docking bay. She fired off a concussive shot at it in spite.

"Ha Shepard, you're getting slow in your old age, and your weakness is just going to get more of your people killed?! Who is getting people killed now!?"

The Alliance Commander gritted her teeth but did not give into the retort. Instead she flipped open a grenade and lightly rolled it down the corridor, it exploded forcing her clone to dive for cover. Abigail smiled to herself self-satisfied.

"Heads up! That door is still open!" Vega reminded.

Shepard looked up and nearly lost her balance as the _Normandy_ pitched hard to port. But Cortez was doing his job.

While she was distracted the clone moved in taking advantage of the situation and launched herself into another Omni-blade tackle. Her Omni-blade came up as a result and they grappled again, the Omni-blades hissing again with renewed vigor.

Abigail grabbed her clone by the hair and twisted, the clone yelped in pain which gave Shepard enough wiggle room to escape. A burst from Garrus's Phaeston giving Shepard even more cover.

"You're just cybernetics. Scared, worn out Cerberus tech!" The clone gloated.

"You know where I got these scars? Ferros, Noveria, Virmire, and Illos. At the Collector Base, Palaven, Tuchanka, and Rannoch! I earned these scars protecting the galaxy! You got yours from a petri dish!"

"Shut up!" Her clone grunted back. "Your nothing but a figurehead, a descent soldier with a lucky streak!"

_Touchy, I am getting to her_. "Then how come you want to be me so badly?"

She saw Brooks trying to flank her position on the other end cloaked, Abigail fired at the reviver of the clone, her shields failed, her cloak failed and crumpled from another burst to the chest.

The clone gave her enough of a firing lane as she peaked out of her cover, and fired, taking her shields down, and then another bite out of her armor. She fled getting back to cover as Brooks got up again and cloaked. The other Abby continued your retreat.

"What's wrong with you? Why can't you defeat her?" Brooks's voice asked.

"I'm Commander Shepard!" The Clone spat.

"You know," the red haired Special Operator taunted, "it's probably a good thing that I'm taking the _Normandy_ away from you, I doubt you could handle it!"

"Shut up!" The Clone spat.

Abigail nodded to James and Garrus who inched forward ever so slightly as they got into position, _but I have to keep her occupied_.

"So much for your team, all your forces, they're dead or dying, it's just you left! And me? My team is still kicking; they probably have gone to the Council, C-Sec, Hackett, anyone who'll listen to the story! You have been exposed! It is over!"

"I'm Shepard!" The Clone raged.

"Now!" Abigail yelled.

Garrus stripped the Clone's shields, James fired off a Carnage blast which ripped through the armor on the clone and caused her to catch on fire. A grenade sailed in from the leader of the pack causing the flames to expand dropping the armor the rest of the way.

The Clone applied her last medi gel, but otherwise hung back.

"Garrus," Abigail pointed to her right, "James" she pointed to her left, "no wait!" She began to run and nodded at each squad member and pointed in the other direction, they were in good covering position, James watching everyone else, Garrus covering the clone and Brooks.

And to make matters better for Shepard her clone's shields weren't coming back on.

While Garrus and James laid down their fire, one with Harrier, the other with Phaeston, Abigail advanced. She went into Adrenaline Rush moving forward quickly. Her clone peaked out and the Valkyrie answered, droning out rhythmically as the time dilation made things seem very slow and very dull.

The Clone took two hits and stumbled back, one of them knocking her Valkyrie out of her hand, she growled, and launched a incinerate which knocked the Valkyrie out of the hand of the prime Shepard. Abigail gritted her teeth and charged, tackling the clone over the railing and rolling down the lip of the cargo bay/ shuttle bay.

But the Valkyrie wound up on top of the potential usurper. She grabbed the neck plate of the armor then slammed her fist down into the ace, and then again, and a third time. The clone looked up with a mixture of surprise and anger coating her features, Abby grunted as the _Normandy _shook suddenly.

This forced her to jolt off the clone and roll the rest of the way down the ramp, and her body tingled as she was forced out of the _Normandy_ magnetic shield, she grabbed on and was just able to hold onto the edge of the _Normandy_, and looked left to see if her Clone had managed to do so…and she did.

Abby tried to struggle up, grunting, as did her clone.

"Look at you. What makes you so damned special? Why you and not me?" The Clone grunted out.

"Hold on!"

She wrenched her head around to see James Vega and Garrus Vakarian rushing down the ramp without any concern of their own lives or livelihood. Before Vega lost his balance he sprawled out reaching for Shepard's hand, Garrus fell in behind him holding him down.

Meanwhile Abby watched as Brooks hesitated and fell back on her duplicate.

James pulled her up and she was able to find a new balance on the _Normandy_ decking and stabilized herself.

"Thanks," She grunted, gloating down at the clone for a split second before turning back to James.

"What are we going to do about this pendejo?" James asked.

_Well the question is do I kill her or not? She is me…and it would be weird having another me running around…but on the other hand she _is_ me…I know what it's like to be her…to go through what she has gone through, if I don't give her the same chance I was given what kind of person would that make me? Will she even take my help if I were to offer it? Ah screw it only one way to find out_.

"Take my hand!" She said bending down to let her clone take it, if she wanted.

"And then?"

"And then you live!" Abigail howled into the wind, "after all you can learn, you don't have to continue on this path! You can be better! I was you once! I got over it, the hate, the rage, and the lies."

"Live? For what?" The Clone said letting go, Abigail watched her fade into the distance and slam into a building below.

She closed her eyes and said a quick prayer for a moment, before heading back up the ramp with James and Garrus leading the way.

She crested the ramp and saw Joker there, with the rest of the crew gathering, Broos in tow.

"Joker," She smiled wanly, "is she the only one whose left?"

"Yeah, that and some crappy pilot, but EDI is taking care of him."

Abby nodded, "good."

"I am once again in control of the _Normandy_." EDI assured.

"Anything else?" Abby asked.

"Well," Joker hesitated, "the bad guys overloaded the heat diffusion system firing at us. Shuttle guy did some pretty amazing stunt flying to keep us in one place."

"It's nice finally being able to fly in something more maneuverable then the Kodiak." Cortez commented humbly.

"What about her?" Abigail nodded at Brooks.

"We are turning over to Alliance Intel, uh, the _real_ Alliance Intel," Joker started, "maybe she can give us some dirt on Cerberus."

"I'll be more than happy to cooperate with the authorities." Brooks pointed out with that innocent _purr_ that was really beginning to _piss me off_.

"Until you escape." Abby grunted.

"Me? Escape? But I'm just a field agent!" She said buttering the situation up.

"Stop. Just stop." Abigail cut her hand coming forward. You betrayed the Alliance…no _humanity_ in the middle of a war."

"I was young and naïve." Brooks purred getting in her former Commander's face.

_I can't stand this crap anymore_; Abigail decided getting out of Brooks's face and spun around walking the other way, separating her from Brooks.

"Admit it Commander, you'll miss me."

Before anyone could react the Omni-handcuffs burst off and Brooks regained the use of her arms, charging forward before Cortez could grab her.

Right passed Abigail, who got the Eagle out, aimed coolly down the sights one handed, and fired point blank into Brooks's back.

"Not at this range, I won't."

Joker's voice caused her to look around, "Ah, Maintenance to the shuttle bay."

And that was that as Shepard ordered the _Normandy_ back into port, to complete her repairs, refit, and to enjoy the rest of shore leave.

**AN:** Well stuff happens apparently, stuff and a thing, and a long butt chapter, and technical issues to sink a battleship. Not making excuses but this has been a very long week for me. Anyways I will try and continue and finish this up, one or two chapters left I haven't exactly decided, but I am probably just going to wrap it up since I consider this to be a mistake now, but hey live and learn right?

I hope to get to Galaxy Fall next week at the latest but hopefully sometime this week.


	5. The Truth

_Shepard's Apartment_

Abigail Shepard stood on the second level of her brand new apartment reading a report pad, and the news, while she waited for her guest to get here that she invited.

The door opened causing her to look up as James Vega entered in his usual attire, looking up at her.

"Hey Lola, nice place." He said looking around.

She nodded at him as he started up the steps at her.

"Of course it won't look so nice after we throw that party you were talking about…"

"You wouldn't mess up my new apartment would you James?"

"Me? _Nah,_ never." He said holding his hands out and in the most unconvincing tone he could imagine.

She rolled her eyes and nodded chagrinned at the display.

"Wow, Anderson really knew how to pick em didn't he?" James said looking out over the living room and lower living spaces.

"He sure does have good taste…" Abby smiled fondly.

"Still this apartment, it's not what I'm used to."

"And what are you used to James?" She turned to him.

"Growing up next to the Pacific…a beach, warm sand, sun, open skies" James grunted.

_The Pacific?_ "Well it might have not been a beach but I can certainly sympathize with wanting to get back to Earth…especially now. I used to run down to the Pacific Ocean and watch the waves from time to time, when I had a free moment…a break from all that running…"

"And you haven't stopped running have you?" James asked.

Abigail smirked, "So who is she?"

He laughed, "Ha, no…no…I stopped fraternizing when I joined the military."

"Doesn't stop you from being a shameless flirt, now." She pointed out.

The marine chuckled at her, "I don't mean anything by it Lola."

She glanced away leaning against the railing, "too bad."

"Now who's the shameless flirt?" He teased back crossing his hands over her chest.

"So you can give it but you can't take it?" She teased putting a purr to her voice.

He looked away from her, "No but you are my Commander …por dios!"

Not quite understanding what he said she decided to _laugh_ at him, egging him on, trying to get him to commit to something.

"I can't ever tell if you are yanking my chain or not." James muttered.

"Come on, you can't tell me you haven't been with anyone since you joined the military." Shepard pressed, really laying the husk into her voice.

"Well, I just find that fraternization and the military don't mix, but I'm still flesh and blood, you know?"

"Oh I know James," She maneuvered herself across his body making sure her chest dragged in close, "All too well."

James's eyes grew as big as saucers as he looked at her, _aww that's real cute James_.

"Uh…uh huh." He gulped.

She demurely held her face down, glancing up at him with her eyes only, using every single natural and learned trick she had picked up in her long lives. Though she wasn't exactly experienced in the art of seduction, she applied the same determination and vigor to it as she did everything else. And she knew that James happened to be interested in her. _Or at least I hope he is_.

"You don't like what you see?" She purred demurely, submissively, trying to put him in the driver's seat as it were. _He knows who's boss, if this is what it takes to get under his skin to make that choice, then I have done my job._

"No," he grunted, "it's not that…it's just that…you know…"

She smirked lifting her chin up to look at him, "What will it take to convince you James?"

"I'd have to forget you were Commander Shepard for starters."

_Ouch_, "I see." She let her head droop in genuine disappointment, crossing her hands back over her chest and fixed the Lieutenant in a steely gaze.

For his part James glanced away and bit his lip, Shepard found him hard to read but just had the feeling that _something_ was going on in that head of his that he wasn't telling her.

_Could he be that much of a flirt with me and not be the least little bit interested? Of course he is, but his interests…he isn't going to let it get in the way of his duty. Damn, maybe I'm not as good as I thought but its kinda flattering…still lets me know exactly where he is, and what his beliefs are. _

She studied him for a few more seconds which did seem like a genuine eternity.

_I suppose he looks troubled…he knows what he wants but he's afraid for some reason…God I hope to discover what that reason is. But I likely never will_. She sighed internally.

"So," Vega grunted breaking the silence, "That clone thing, pretty crazy huh?"

"You really want to talk about this don't you?" She sighed leaning back against the railing even further.

"Well, sure." James admitted, "Because most people wouldn't just go through the effort of saving a clone of them. That is all sorts of messed up."

"She is still a person James."

"Is she?" The Lieutenant countered placing his hands over his chest.

"You think the Geth are alive, the Geth are machines, machines with flashlight heads." She pointed out.

"Whoa, who said I said the Geth are alive?" He countered.

She sighed glaring at him, "You didn't say no either. You hardly objected to the Geth, at all, when we were saving them, when we had them on the ship."

He grunted, "Yeah but this is…different…por dios!...she was grown in a vat…a Petri dish, you said it yourself!"

"The circumstances of one's birth do not change the fact that one is alive, _somehow_ Cerberus did the impossible." Abigail tried.

"Could she even reproduce? Could she really last on her own? Hell both she and Brooks admitted they had a hand in her creation and making her 'alive'." James explained emphatically. "So, _why_?"

Abigail glanced away, wiggled on over to the side of the rail and leaned over the side, considering her words.

"Because what sort of person would that make me not giving her the chance I was given?" She finally decided.

"I'm not sure I follow,"

She barked a laugh, her eyes tearing up slightly, "No James, you wouldn't. You weren't there and I don't really…talk about the past. But I was a mess in my youth. I was a mess when I first joined the Alliance. I was angry, loud, arrogant, stuck up, I lashed out at things because they confused me or I found them intimidating. I believed the universe owed me something, I believed the Government owed me something for leaving me behind…since my parents left behind. And by some miracle I was saved, still not sure I understand it myself."

"Whoa." James grunted.

"Yeah," She sighed. "So here I am, here I was looking at someone who was a mirror of myself. Fully grown, fully aged, had my face, some of my attributes, my personality…but yet she was only…what?...two years old? Spending most of those two years in great pain at what people had done to her, being freed by Brooks, who parlayed her influence and fed on her rage and mistrust turning it into bitterness and racism."

"She was nothing like you! You are not racist; you care about your crew."

"You sure about that James?" She smirked wryly turning back to him, and saw a look of disgust on his face there, "I mean the racism part."

He nodded slowly, "How could you be after everything you been through?"

"Oh no, I am _not_ racist. And if I was I certainly am not now…" She conceded. "_But_, I am a human national. I always tend to introduce myself as 'Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy,' and not 'Shepard, Council Spectre'. The Council annoys me, the position annoys me, and it annoys me that I have to serve two masters and am in the complicated position of being _both_ a Council Spectre and an officer in the Alliance navy. I mean can you just imagine the position that might have put me in? If the Council went to war against Earth?"

"Then why'd you take the position?" James challenged.

"I almost didn't," The First Human Spectre admitted, "I almost told Anderson and Hackett where they could shove their little Alien Special Forces club."

"What changed?"

"Well, I decided I could do more good serving humanity as a Spectre, and representing humanity as a Spectre, then I could just being an officer in the Alliance Navy. That and the freedom…the supposed freedom…appealed to me…just doing the right thing on my own without having to worry about the repercussions."

"That is hardly racism though," James pointed out refocusing.

"Yeah, but it _could be_ under the right circumstances a strong sense of nationalism could lead to…almost always…to racism. If taken to its almost logical extreme. My in group is _good_ my species and what I think of as a 'nation' is good, everyone else is a potential danger, threat, and may even be inferior to me and mine. Cerberus fell into that trap, though they weren't exactly racist."

"Cerberus wasn't racist?"

"Nope," Abby shrugged, "Extremism is not racism."

"You sound like you are defending them."

"Not really," The Valkyrie shrugged, "but again I can understand where they were coming from. And my time working _with_ Cerberus was some of the freest of my life. The Illusive Man generally gave me a list of things to do and then let me go do them as I could, how I could, without second guessing me at every turn, without feeling like I was being lied to. And even then he had his reasons."

"Like on the Collector Ship?"

Abby nodded and sighed, "Not what I would've done of course, but the cold hard calculus of war does support his judgment."

"I guess, so it must hurt we are fighting them?" Vega asked.

"Not really," Abby sighed looking out the window, "they do happen to be extremists and their devotion to humanity was a bit strong, I just wondered where that line was or even if they had a line at all in the good old days. Was there a difference between the projects that Cerberus ran and the intentions of the Illusive Man? Or was that all just a lie?"

"Probably the latter," James grunted.

She sighed again closing her eyes, "Gavin's telling of what the Illsuive Man tried to do after I shut down Overlord would seem to indicate that is indeed the case. Just hard hearing it when the Illusive Man and I built a certain trust…I may not trust him with my children…but I trusted him to be consistent."

James was quiet for a long moment, Abigail waited for him to continue, to say something, to do anything. But in the end _I think there is really nothing more to say_.

"So, you sure you don't want me?" She grunted turning around and running a finger across his neck.

He hissed, "Oh I want to…you know…I guess. It just complicates things."

"Something happened to you didn't it?" Abigail asked suddenly knowing the answer to the question. "Something on Fehl Prime? Something that you cannot hide your…nature…but something that you feel prevents you from getting close to someone? Someone who could easily be dead tommorow?"

His face froze and his mouth fell slightly.

She nodded and patted him on the shoulder, "Its ok, I get it James, I should not have pushed you so far. When you are ready to talk about it…we'll talk…but nothing more…well unless you come around to that to."

"Ha!" James grunted. "You always have to try a little?"

"Can't blame a girl for trying," She snorted, then frowned, "but no James, I am here for you if you need me, either way."

"Fair enough, just…I need time."

She smirked folding her arms back over her chest, "so now that you've officially shot me down was there something else you wanted to discuss?"

"Oh shoot," He smiled, "that's right I almost forgot."

He twirled around and began taking her shirt off.

Abby frowned; _I thought we weren't getting hitched tonight_. As the shirt peeled off over her skin revealing an ever greater assortment of those tattoos of his, but the crown jewel quickly came into view. The N7 tatoo, in black, that he promised her he would get.

"What do you think?" James grunted.

_I like it, too bad that's not really my sort of thing_, "this is only the beginning James, you have to be relentless from here on…I mean I would hate to see you get this wonderful tat and fail out of the program."

"Heh, No, it's ok…as I said once I commit to something I fully commit." He reminded her. "I am in this all the way."

"Good," she took his hand and they shared a moment.

"Well, I should get back to it, Estebon said he needed help with the shuttle and I promised to help him out."

"Right, we get to it soldier" She teased.

"Yes ma'am," he agreed heading out of the room. "This is going to be one hell of a place for a fiesta…hasta luega Shepard."

**AN: **Well…phewww…this is done and I think I managed to salvage this, I just decided to end this here and go back to Galaxy Fall without having to rewrite cutsccenes and levels and do all sorts of other stuff of that nature. So if you want more Shepard and Vega action, go there. But anyways I do rather like this chapter and all the gooey head cannon and stuff, I think this came out well, but I have been dreaming about Galaxy Fall.


End file.
